Any trip to Tokyo begets a visit to Tsukiji Market for sushi, and Sushi Dai is the superlative sushi experience to be had there.

If you have the tenacity to wake at the crack of dawn and brave 3 hour-long queues, you’ll be handsomely rewarded with a meal of the highest quality, skillfully crafted by artisans with nary but their hands and a very sharp knife, in an intimate, bar counter seating-only shop that just barely accommodates 12 customers.

Go for the omakase menu – 9 pieces of nigiri sushi picked by the chef and an additional one you can choose from the a la carte menu, in addition to sushi rolls, rolled egg and miso soup.

Every morsel served was delicious, and while the resplendently buttery tuna toro nigiri and briny yet sweet ocean fresh uni nigiri are obvious standouts, I also enjoyed the refreshingly new to me cutlass fish nigiri and botan shrimp nigiri.

Taste: 5/5